Choosing your perfect wedding rings

The most important thing about the process of choosing your wedding rings is that it should be fun! Your wedding is a special event and the rings represent the symbol of your future lives together. They also form a pivotal part of your special day – the moment you become Mr and Mrs.

You should choose a jeweller who has the time and patience to listen to your ideas, and one who pays attention to the design of your engagement ring to make sure that both rings will sit comfortably together.

They need to have the knowledge and expertise to make sure that the wedding band will fit with the engagement ring, especially if the engagement ring has diamonds that are set low or is heart or pear shaped. In these cases it is good to be able to explore having a bespoke ring designed that will fit the engagement ring perfectly.

Having a bespoke shaped wedding band usually means leaving your treasured engagement ring with a jeweller whilst the wedding band is made, this can take up to 8 weeks. Not so at COO Jewellers of Hatton Garden, they have just invested in 3D digital scanning which means your engagement ring can be scanned in their showroom while you wait, the scan can then be used as a template for the wedding band, so you should only be without your engagement ring for a few minutes, now that is impressive!

The next thing to think about is which precious metal should you choose. The first rule is that whatever the engagement ring is made of, the wedding band should be made of the same metal. This will avoid a hard metal rubbing against a softer metal – for example platinum sitting next to gold is not a good idea. Gold is softer than platinum, which will wear as it rubs against the harder platinum metal.

The men have pretty much a free choice of metals as the ring is usually worn on its own . This can range from Platinum, Palladium, white, yellow or rose Gold, Silver or Titanium. The final choice will come down to personal preference and budget. A plain polished wedding band can cost as little as £99, but those who love diamond set wedding bands will need to budget accordingly.

It makes sense to decide on a budget for your bridal jewellery, in the same way that you do for the rest of your wedding plans. It is worth spending as much as you can comfortably afford on the wedding rings as they will be your lasting reminder and they need to be made to last too!

Platinum and Palladium are currently the most popular choices; both metals are maintenance free as they are naturally white coloured, unlike white gold which is usually plated in Rhodium. The plating tends to wear off within a year to 18 months. It can however easily be re-polished to restore it to its original finish.

So have fun and enjoy choosing or designing a wedding band that fits with your lifestyle.

The wedding ring specialists, COO Jewellers of Hatton Garden offer a completely free consultation service with no pressure to buy, either in their showrooms or at your home. It all starts with you and they love to help.

To arrange an appointment with Coo Jewellers or find out more about Dash of Sparkle, contact Idit Ginsberg on 07877 927 246 or visit www.dashofsparkle.com